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Thoughts? Video shows a dog on the line, and the paignton locals jumping the barriers to try and catch it. Although this seems to scare it into running under the train. People crawl under the train after it.
At least it got resolved fairly quickly.
Not my video.
Quite... although Paignton is at the end of a branch line isn't it, so any moving trains would likely be visible and slow moving.
You would have to hope the driver pressed the red button, or something similar but it really is stupid climbing over the barriers, a good way to get killed.
Quite... although Paignton is at the end of a branch line isn't it, so any moving trains would likely be visible and slow moving.
You would have to hope the driver pressed the red button, or something similar but it really is stupid climbing over the barriers, a good way to get killed.
Nor am I! Just checked the map and yes the level crossing is right at the station, which is a terminal station for National rail services. The line continues as the Dartmouth Steam Railway, but all trains here would be going very slowly, thankfully!!
Controversial opinion. The barriers are often down for far too long before a down train arrives. That can lead to a significant buildup of pedestrians waiting at the barriers in the height of the season, which could lead to this kind of incident.
Controversial opinion. The barriers are often down for far too long before a down train arrives. That can lead to a significant buildup of pedestrians waiting at the barriers in the height of the season, which can lead to this kind of incident.
I'd agree with that. There is so much focus on level crossing safety, but this is rarely an aspect that seems to be considered. Trains are never going at more than walking pace across this crossing, I can't see any reason why the gates couldn't go down less than a minute before an arriving train, and simultaneously with the doors closing for a departing train.
Controversial opinion. The barriers are often down for far too long before a down train arrives. That can lead to a significant buildup of pedestrians waiting at the barriers in the height of the season, which could lead to this kind of incident.
There is a footbridge that 90% of the people could use whilst the barriers are down.
Can't see why the barriers being down are the issue.
The issue is a dog, that no one knows whose it is, getting onto the line, then stupid people scaring it even more my chasing it.
I realise that it may have escaped from somewhere and that the owner may not realise the dog is missing but if it does belong to someone in the crowd, why wasn't it on a lead, especially in an environment where there are lots of people, road traffic and a railway?
The owner in the black hoody wasn't doing appallingly, but pretty much everybody after this point is awful, especially the lad who appears near the start and effectively scares the dog into hiding underneath the train because he thought running at a dog would somehow encourage it to come to him. But he is drinking a can of lager so in his head he probably thought it would be the hero move.
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I realise that it may have escaped from somewhere and that the owner may not realise the dog is missing but if it does belong to someone in the crowd, why wasn't it on a lead, especially in an environment where there are lots of people, road traffic and a railway?
A lot of people think their dogs have better recall than they actually do. In practice many of them have simply learnt their name and tend to come back because they think they'll get praise.
Of course, even the best trained dogs can get spooked by something like a train horn. Our dog has pretty good recall but even if it was top notch, she'd be on a lead if we were going across a railway line, regardless of the type of crossing.
Add into the mix people running at the dog, trying to grab it, people shouting etc and it doesn't bode well.
The way people were chasing the dog about and getting under the train reminds me of the nutter owner in 2019 that chased his dog from London Waterloo towards Vauxhall, along 3rd rail territory. Brought everything to gridlock and that was during the time trains were flowing in and out of Waterloo, between Clapham like water. I understand the sheer love for the dogs but some people really put themselves in harms way. Good on the driver in handling an escalating issue, some comments on that YouTube
video clearly show those who shouldn't be driving trains.
Controversial opinion. The barriers are often down for far too long before a down train arrives. That can lead to a significant buildup of pedestrians waiting at the barriers in the height of the season, which could lead to this kind of incident.
There is a footbridge like at Lincoln for foot traffic - this incident was caused by some moron not keeping their dog on a lead (the female who picked the poor little thing up at the end).
It looked like she nearly had him/her until Mr Hero (who later needed a Stella half way through scared the dog under the train!
Typical modern Britain full of intellectually deficient bag of skin and bone.
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The main learning point from this whole sorry episode is - this is why we (signallers) caution “for” dogs. The dogs aren’t the issue, it’s the idiot “owners” and their hanger’ons who are the problem, unfortunately Darwin is the only winner in this situation.
Was there any need for the train to stop at all?
Dogs can be stupid, but they are generally clever enough to avoid being run over by a slow moving train.
By stopping, has the driver encouraged trespassing?
Was there any need for the train to stop at all?
Dogs can be stupid, but they are generally clever enough to avoid being run over by a slow moving train.
By stopping, has the driver encouraged trespassing?
Very obviously in this situation there was a risk of people jumping the barriers to rescue the dog, so 100% the correct thing for the driver to do was to stop, and hopefully use the red button or at least make an urgent call to the box to get lines blocked.
Was there any need for the train to stop at all?
Dogs can be stupid, but they are generally clever enough to avoid being run over by a slow moving train.
By stopping, has the driver encouraged trespassing?
Yes because as seen from the video you can't predict human behaviour and there was a real possibility of someone desperate, jumping into harms way to get that dog, in the eyes of the driver.
Was there any need for the train to stop at all?
Dogs can be stupid, but they are generally clever enough to avoid being run over by a slow moving train.
By stopping, has the driver encouraged trespassing?
Yes because as seen from the video you can't predict human behaviour and there was a real possibility of someone desperate, jumping into harms way to get that dog, in the eyes of the driver.
Happened a few years ago near Freshfield station, a young lady in her 20s chased a dog she was walking that had run onto the line at a level crossing, unaware that a train was moments away. Sadly it had a very tragic outcome.
Happened a few years ago near Freshfield station, a young lady in her 20s chased a dog she was walking that had run onto the line at a level crossing, unaware that a train was moments away. Sadly it had a very tragic outcome.
Yep, sadly examples of that are why being overly cautious as a driver can be easily justified. Reducing the real risk of hitting someone by stopping short of any incident if made aware, rather than chancing going through it will always trumph the other unfortunate possibility.
I strongly suspect it the driver had followed the rules, continued into the station with the dog being killed or seriously injured there would have been a serious public order situation. You can see the kind of people that were involved, even when told not to climb under the train (with moving parts, and hot pipes etc) they still did so !
An instructor at the TOC that gave me my driver's key told me once that he'd personally pin delay minutes for anyone who stops for a dog onto the driver, and we should run them over.
Thankfully, he was a known nutjob and I had no issues from management stopping for a dog on the line.
Red button every time in this situation. The traincrew acted perfectly.
Totally agree. Very professional. This was not just a dog encountered along the way. There was extreme heightened risk of members of the public breaking through, trying to rescue the animal at an extremely busy level crossing.
An instructor at the TOC that gave me my driver's key told me once that he'd personally pin delay minutes for anyone who stops for a dog onto the driver, and we should run them over.
Thankfully, he was a known nutjob and I had no issues from management stopping for a dog on the line.
Red button every time in this situation. The traincrew acted perfectly.
I suggest when he then hit the owner round the next bend he might well change his opinion.
Any reports of dogs on the line is a caution end of, I couldn’t care less what management have to say about it - it’s my workstation and I’ll work it how I see fit.
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I suggest when he then hit the owner round the next bend he might well change his opinion.
Any reports of dogs on the line is a caution end of, I couldn’t care less what management have to say about it - it’s my workstation and I’ll work it how I see fit.
I strongly suspect it the driver had followed the rules, continued into the station with the dog being killed or seriously injured there would have been a serious public order situation. You can see the kind of people that were involved, even when told not to climb under the train (with moving parts, and hot pipes etc) they still did so !
Also if the driver had continued and actually killed the dog you can imagine the barrage of social media and tabloid abuse GWR would receive as the clip would obviously spread like wildfire online. The driver's face is also clearly identifiable so it's likely he would be getting a load of abuse and harrassment (both at the level crossing and online) as well given the turbo was travelling so slow with ample stopping distance.
The driver's actions helped prevent serious reputational damage to GWR and avoided a similar situation to when a departing TGV in Paris ran over a cat in a station in January 2023 and forced SNCF into paying a negligence fine. You can bet some manager at GWR or NR would probably have also ended up being forced to resign over the handling of the whole public fiasco of running over someone's pet.
I've sat on a stationary Greater Anglia train for several minutes which was unable to proceed due to a swan on the line. I know they are a protected species, but all the same it must have been a challenging situation in the control room!
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